Paper 1462

Abstract

This paper focuses on some properties of Tense-island effects. Wh-extraction out of an infinitival wh-clause is much better than the one out of a finite wh-clause, as reported so far. In some previous approaches, it has been captured that a finite T strengthens the wh-island violation. However, some data tell us that the story behind Tense-islands is not that simple, in fact. In this paper, it is demonstrated that Tense-island effects are due not only to finiteness but to additional factors, and it is proposed that Tense-island effects are observed only in A-to-A' movement, not in A'-to-A' movement (A/A'-asymmetries). Also, it is suggested that these properties can be induced from the Case-system proposed in Pesetsky and Torrego (2001,2002,2004) and slight modifications of the probe-goal system in Chomsky (2000).